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Monday, 9 September 2013

Clayspray Red Clay and Cacao Face Mask Review*

When I was asked if I wanted to try Clayspray's Glow Red Clay and Cacao Face Masque what really made me say yes was the fact that it was said to smell of delicious chocolate! I do also love a good face mask - and Friday night was the perfect opportunity to try this out. The first week back at school after the summer holiday is always a hectic one so it was lovely to sit down with a glass of wine in my pyjamas and treat myself to a luxurious face mask. I have generally pretty good skin, with the occasional blemish - I have the usual slightly greasy T-zone so I'm the right sort for this mask which is suitable for normal to combination skin.

And this is no ordinary face mask - its formula uniquely uses a fine blend of American and African cacao, which is rich in antioxidants, vitamins A, B, D, E and K and fatty acids which are excellent skin emollients - and there are also a whole bunch of minerals in it, too. All of these are apparently found in greater quantity in the powder form of cocoa than in cocoa butter so it makes the mask even more effective. The nourishing power of antioxidant rich cacao aids cell regeneration and neutralises the damaging effect of free radicals (the things that age us) - so this aims to give us glowing, healthy and radiant looking skin.

I was a bit too liberal - more than enough for one application

The mask just after application (L) and the mask when it was dry (R) (you can see all my pores - eek!)

So what did I think? Well, firstly, the smell is absolutely delicious - so chocolatey! I have to say I was a little bit tempted to taste it, but I refrained... the instructions on the bottle say to 'spray or moisten skin with natural mineral water'. Now, I'm not going to lie, I tend not to have mineral water in the house and even if I did, I don't think I'd actually bother to wet my face with it, so I just went for the out-of-the-tap stuff. The face mask squeezes easily out of the actuator (which you're supposed to wash after use so it doesn't dry and clog up) and actually the amount I squeezed out (see above!) was more than I needed for one application. It has a slightly clayish consistency (unsurprising, I know) but mainly it just reminded me of liquid chocolate. When it's dry (which it was after a mere 5 minutes), you're supposed to wash it off. I left it on a little longer just to make sure I was getting the full goodness out of it. It washed off really quickly with warm water and my skin was left feeling super soft. In terms of radiance? Well I'm not sure I ever really look at my skin closely enough to see how radiant it is, but it did look really clean and fresh and the softness really was so lovely.

This is definitely a super luxury face mask and with a price tag of around £44.50/125ml, it's very unlikely to be on everyone's list of must-have face masks. The press release suggests to use it as a weekly skin treatment for a glowing healthy complexion or as an evening ritual to restore the glow to dull and tired skin... I think I'll be using mine as a Friday night ritual rather than a daily evening one! It's a real treat product and I did really enjoy using it - espeicially when it made my skin as soft as it did. Having tried this out, I would definitely consider trying out other Clayspray products.